The Social Media Marketing Resource Round-up

Smart thinking from around the web

Throw a metaphorical brick around the web
and you're bound to hit a post on social media marketing (in fact about 248
million according to Google). The trick is to find the blog posts, guides and
articles that will add value to your thinking without spending weeks trawling for
them.

Fortunately, we've done the job for you.
This round-up presents some of the core thinking we've
found interesting from across the web.

Social media marketing themes

As we reviewed the material, a few themes
emerged:

Social media marketing is working for businesses right now

It's moved on from the hype and wishful thinking of a few years ago. Companies large and small are using social media marketing to deliver results every day.

Focus on the business first

Too many social
media marketing campaigns focus on social media itself (likes, tweets, shares
etc). The real focus should be how the activity supports the business strategy.

Measurement is tough (but worth it)

Sure, it can be
difficult to measure the results of social media marketing (or at least
demonstrating that results came directly from social activity). But it is not
impossible and, when done right, will show the true value social media
marketing delivers to the business.

Social media marketing resources

Now for the resources. Hope you like them:

7 unwritten
rules of social media
This is a nicely grounded article by Rajesh Setty on the American
Express Open Forum. It successfully debunks a number of assumptions made
about social media marketing.
Highly recommended."You can get extremely busy with social media—trying to post
anything and everything. In your enthusiasm to share, you might drop the
quality of what you share and that's when the problem starts—people will
silently start to ignore you."

Copyblogger
Not an individual post, but a whole site. Copyblogger is a prolific producer of articles and advice
on all aspects of social media marketing. Check out three of our favourite
posts:

The Definitive Guide to B2B Social Media (PDF download)
This 46-page ebook from marketing automation provider, Marketo provides a comprehensive look at all aspects of social media marketing. It includes a range of checklists and worksheets, tactics and metrics.
"It's important to recognize that the B2B buying process has
changed: prospects rely on social media to research and educate themselves
before actually engaging with your company. It's important to consider how
social media impacts every stage of the revenue cycle, from before prospects
are even identified to after they become customers and beyond."

11 ways to measure the value of social media
Effective, meaningful measurement is one of
the enduring challenges for social media marketing. With so many channels, so
widely distributed, how can you tell which activity delivered what results? And
just because many social media channels are free to use, it doesn't mean they
are free to your business. Social media marketing can be very time intensive
and may stop you doing other activity. So it pays to know what's working.
Also take a look at: B2B social media metrics need to match goals

5 awesome examples of engaging social media campaigns
While it can sometimes seem like the entire Internet is giving tips on how to market with social media, real-life examples can be thin on the ground. This post by Lauren Sorenson at Hubspot highlights five examples of social media marketing in action. All are relatively low budget and rely on being clever rather than throwing money at the problem. (We particularly like the Healthy Choice example.)
Also check out Econsultancy's 25 business-tastic B2B social media case studies.

Six Pixels of Separation (podcast)
Mitch Joel's Six Pixels of Separation podcast offers weekly interviews with some of social media marketing's brightest thinkers. Each podcast is under an hour and perfect for most commutes.

Eloqua's Grande Guide to the Social CMO (PDF download)
This ebook is a great overview of what social media is and why today's chief marketing officers should care. It is particularly strong in its lists of do's and don'ts and its guide to the five main social media tools: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Foursquare and Slideshare.
"You are who Google says you are. This adage may appear intimidating. But for those who understand the positive impact a social media presence can have on their personal brands, it should be a source of optimism."

2011 Social Media Marketing Industry Report
Michael Stelzner of Social Media Examiner has brought together the thoughts and experiences of over 3,300 marketers. The report features answers to the top 10 social media questions marketers want answered and goes on to paint a comprehensive picture of who's doing what in social media marketing today.

Also worth a look:

There is no shortage of material on social media marketing available on the web. Here are five pages we think are worth a read:

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